Balzers, Liechtenstein, 15 December 2016 – American precision cutting tool manufacturer IMCO and Oerlikon Balzers recently signed a contract to install an in-house coating centre at the IMCO facility in Perrysburg, Ohio.
From left: Marc Desrayaud, Oerlikon Balzers, and Perry Osburn, IMCO.
“We have been working closely with Oerlikon Balzers for over 20 years, during which time our coating needs have grown to such a significant size that it now justifies an in-house solution. The Oerlikon Balzers in-house centre at our Ohio facility is an important step for both of our companies and will further strengthen our relationship”, says Perry Osburn, President of IMCO, after the contract was signed during the International Manufacturing Technology Show 2016 (IMTS) in Chicago. IMCO is a reputed manufacturer of high-performance carbide cutting tools such as drills, end mills and reamers.
Oerlikon Balzers’ in-house centres provide a complete service with home advantage for coating large part volumes. The production lines are operated by Oerlikon Balzers staff, but are tailored to the customers’ specific needs and seamlessly integrated into their manufacturing environment. IMCO recently expanded their facility and included space for in-house coating capability, meaning that the Oerlikon Balzers in-house centre can be located inside the existing IMCO facility, guaranteeing optimum workflow and delivery times that are as short and flexible as possible.
“This in-house centre is an excellent solution for both IMCO and Oerlikon Balzers’ long term strategies. It provides IMCO, an Oerlikon Balzers key customer, with a dedicated coating solution and added capacity for future growth, and at the same time it creates capacity at our Indiana Customer Centre, where IMCO coating has been performed to date, enabling us to further expand our business in the US Midwest”, says Steve Crowley, Head of Sales and Operations Oerlikon Balzers USA.
The coating equipment that will be installed at the IMCO facility in Perrysburg, Ohio, is currently at the Oerlikon Balzers Customer Centre in Richmond, Indiana, for validation and for training the team that will be permanently based at the IMCO in-house centre. The centre is planned to open in the first quarter of 2017.